Suspension system for nets and the like



J. K. MATES Filed Jan. 9, 1967 FIG. 1

J fa ATToRueYs June 17, 1969 SUSPENSION SYSTEM FOR NETS AND THE LIKE FIG. 2

United States Patent 3,450,405 SUSPENSION SYSTEM FOR NETS AND THE LIKE Jack K. Mates, Scarsdale, N.Y., assignor to American Velcro, Inc., a corporation of New Hampshire Filed Jan. 9, 1967, Ser. No. 608,207 Int. Cl. A63b 61/00 US. Cl. 273-29 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a suspension system for holding a sheet member betwen two upright support rods, and more particularly it relates to means for holding a net, such as a tennis net, suspended between two upright support rods by providing complementary hooking elements which extend laterally from the suspended net and provided along the surface of one or both upright support rods for releasably and adjustably securing the net in tension between the two upright rods.

Equipment for games such as tennis, badminton, or volley ball have a pair of upstanding laterally spaced supportnig posts and a net suspended between the posts. In the simplest form, the net is secured to the posts by fastening a rope or cord to either end of the net and then wrapping the other end of the rope or cord about an adjacent post. This system has a number of disadvantages. First, it is very difficult to adjust the height of the net properly. Second, because the rope or cord must be knotted to secure it to the post it is often an arduous and time consuming task to dismantle the assembly. Another means of securing such a net between supporting posts is by cable and reel. A ratcheted reel with a cable stored thereon is secured to one of the upright posts. Free end of the cable secured to an adjacent end of the net and the net is then raised into place by reeling in a proper amount of cable. The reel and cable have an advantage over the simple rope or cord because of relative ease in adjusting the height of the net. However, the reel and cable construction is relatively expensive and has metallic parts which are subject to corrosion especially in an outdoor environment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A preferred embodiment of the invention is described below with reference to the drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a suspension system for holding a net in tension across two upright rods;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective of an upper portion of one of the upright rods of FIG. 1 without the net attached thereto; and

FIG. 3 is a section taken substantially along lines 33 of FIG. 1.

The invention is in a suspension system for sheet members, such as nets used in games, wherein the sheet member is suspended under tension between two upright support rods. This system is comprised of at least two laterally extending flexible tape members extending from at least one side of the sheet member with the tape members having a plurality of hooking elements along one surface of the tape members. A major surface area along and around portions of at least one upright support rod is also defined by hooking elements complementary to the hooking elements on the tape members and the tape member is secured to the upright support rod by wrapping the tape member at least partially around the rod so that a plurality of the hooking elements on both the tape and the rod are in interlocking engagement against separation by a shear force applied parallel to the interfacial plane of engagement and are releasable by peeling the tape member, thereby adjustably securing the sheet member in tension across the two upright support rods.

The hooking elements are of the type described in US. Patents Nos. 2,717,437 and 3,009,235, which are formed of flexible resilient material into one of hooks or loops and are characterized by the property that they can be attached by merely placing a surface defined by the hooks into face-to-face relationship with a surface defined by the loops so that a large number of hooks engage a large number of loops which resist separation parallel to the interfacial plane of engagement but are readily separable by peeling forces applied substantially normal to this interfacial plane. These fastening devices having hooking elements are generally formed of a sheet of woven fabric having raised threads of synthetic material, such as nylon, which are napped or unnapped to provide a pile surface defined by a plurality of loops or are thermally treated to become semi-rigid and are then cut along one side near their outer extremity to form hooks.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As shown in FIG. 1, the suspension system is being used in connection wtih a volley ball net 10 which is suspended across two upright supporting rods 11 and 12; the supporting rods are either driven into the ground or held in position by any other conventional means. A major surface area of the upper portion of the upright rods 11 and 12 is defined by the heretofore described hook-type hooking elements. This is provided in this embodiment by twolongitudinally extending tape members 13 and 14 which extend parallel to the axis of the rods and are offset from each other about Also provided along this upper portion of the rods is an elongated helically wound tape 15 which also has a surface defined by the described hook-type hooking elements. The tape is adhesively secured about the rods by a pressure sensitive or any other suitable type adhesive. By this configuration of the tape members attached to the rod, a major surface area along and around the upper portion of the rods are defined by hook-type hooking elements.

As shown in FIG. 1, the net 10 substantially spans the two uprights rods 11 and 12 and extending laterally from the respective side edges of the net adjacent the rods 11 and 12 are pairs of flexible tape members 16 and 17. These flexible tape members 16 and 17 have one surface defined by a plurality of the described loop-type hooking elements and thus form a complementary hooking element with respect to the hooks provided by the tapes 13, 14 and 15 on the upright rods.

In assembly the upright rods 11 and 12 are spaced apart a distance less than the overall extended width of the net and tape members 16 and 17 combined. The net is then aligned for correct height and first one pair of flexible tape members 16 is convolutely wound about the upper surface area portion of upright rod 12 so that it extends at least about 180 around the rod and is then pressed into interlocking engagement with the hook tape members 13, 14 and 15 so that a plurality of books engage a plurality of loops in interlocking engagement. The net is then stretched to the second upright support 11 and the pair of flexible tape members 17 are pulled tight so as to place the net 10 under tension and are wrapped at least 180 around the upright rod 11 and are pressed into engagement with the tapes 13, 14 and 15 on rod 11 so as to engage a plurality of hooks and loops. This manner of engagement and suspension of the net will resist separation by small forces applied against the net since they will place essentially a shear force between the interfacial plane of engagement between the engaged hooking elements. However, by simply peeling the flexible pairs of tape members 17 and 16 the net can easily be separated from the upright rods and disassembled.

While hook-type hooking elements have been provided on the rods and loop-type elements provided on the flexible tapes, it is intended that they can be interchanged and thus loops could be provided on the rods and hooks on the tapes or the tapes and surfaces of the rods could comprise a combination of both hookand loop-type hooking elements.

I claim:

1. A suspension system for sheet members, such as nets used in games wherein the sheet member is suspended under tension between two upright support rods comprising at least two laterally extending flexible tape members extending from at least one side of the sheet member, the tape members having a plurality of hooking elements along one surface thereof, and a major surface area along and around portions of at least one upright support rod furthermost disposed from the side of the sheet member defined by hooking elements complementary to the hooking elements on the tape members, the tape members being secured to the upright support rod by wrapping the tape member at least partially around the rod so that a plurality of hooking elements on both the tape and the rod are in compressive interlocking engagement against separation by a tensile force applied parallel to the plane of the sheet member and being releasable by peeling the tape member, thereby adjustably to secure the sheet member in tension across the two upright support rods.

2. A suspension system according to claim 1 wherein pairs of tape members extend laterally from opposite side edges of the sheet member and both upright members have'major surface areas defined by hooking elements.

3. A suspension system according to claim 1 wherein the hooking elements are defined along said area by a combination of longitudinally extending tape members and helically wound tape members.

4. A suspension system according to claim 1 wherein said tape members are wrapped more than about the upright support rods.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 401,082 4/1889 Taylor 273-29 3,063,718 11/1962 Steinkamp. 3,136,311 6/1964 Lewis.

ANTON O. OECHSLE, Primary Examiner.

THEATRICE BROWN, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 256-23 

